Four Year Strong

When it was time for Four Year Strong to prep what would become their sixth album, analysis paralysis, they were truly, finally, stumped. Vocalist/guitarists Dan O’Connor and Alan Day showed up to producer Will Putney’s studio on day one of recording without a single finished song, in stark contrast to the 40-some ideas they brought to the table for 2020’s Brain Pain.
The two spent those early days in a bedroom at Putney’s house talking about, and listening to, music, desperate for a spark of inspiration. They found it by looking back: at what made Brain Pain a success and even the genesis of Four Year Strong as a band as they rode their trademark sound – pop-punk energy, dextrous riffage and caustic hardcore spirit – to the top of the underground in the late aughts. Within a month, they’d completed nearly 80% of the album, like the ominous, metal-meets-industrial “aftermath / afterthought.” They melded combustible
hardcore rhythms with ‘90s alt-rock melodic bliss (“uncooked”), dabbled in rough-around-the-edges reggae (“out of touch”) and swerved between vibe-heavy synths and thunderous breakdowns (“STFIL”).
The result is an album that expands their classic sound in exciting ways – but through it all, it’s unmistakably them: O’Connor and Day’s distinctive vocals atop the airtight rhythm section prowess drummer Jake Massucco and bassist Joe Weiss provide. This deep into their career, there’s really nothing that doesn’t sound like Four Year Strong with these four involved.

Since forming in 2012, FREE THROW’s story has been simple: keep going. New records, longer tours, bigger rooms—it’s always been another step upward for the Nashville-based quintet, whose 2014 debut, Those Days Are Gone, has become an era-defining classic in the emo-punk genre, launching them onto global tours with Hot Mulligan and New Found Glory and slots at Slam Dunk, Riot Fest, and The Fest. Every milestone has pushed them ahead, but on their sixth LP, Moments Before The Wind (Wax Bodega), that constant charge gradually slows, suspended mid-step, mid-thought, mid-life.

Recorded with longtime producer Brett Romnes on either end of the sold-out Those Days Are Gone 10-year tour, the follow-up to 2023’s Lessons That We Swear To Keep chronicles a surrealist descent into liminality: a period of intense personal upheaval colored by loss, renewal, reflection, and, ultimately, life-altering joy through the impending birth of a child. The 11-song set is disarmingly real, colored by sonic spontaneity—a swirl of Midwest emo, sweat-soaked punk fervor, and crashing alternative rock—but also the sort of achingly vulnerable lyricism fans and critics have come to expect from the band.

Through it all, Moments Before The Wind finds Free Throw still moving, still growing, but now, perhaps more than ever, acutely aware that the path ahead is neither straight nor obvious. There’s a quiet confidence guiding them into a brand-new era, ready for whatever the wind blows their way.

One Step Closer has always believed that hardcore is limitless. On All You Embrace, the band puts that theory into practice. Every release from the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania band has seen them exploring the sonic overlaps of hardcore, emo, and ‘90s alternative rock without an iota of self-consciousness, or pretension, creeping into the mix. The band’s latest is a collection of 11 songs that show One Step Closer reaching for something deeply honest and, as always, authentic.

With founding members Ryan Savitski (vocals) and Ross Thompson (guitar) at the helm of One Step Closer, alongside newest addition Colman O’Brien (guitar), the three were able to fearlessly guide One Step Closer in new directions. Taken in full, All You Embrace is the sound of One Step Closer honoring their past while building a future that looks more open, more creative, and more expansive than anything the band has done before.

Death Lens want to be in your ear at all times. They hide their ferocity underneath a thick veneer of style until the energy and chaos of one of their live shows leaves every audience member disarmed and forever changed. Off the strength of 2022’s No Luck, tours with Militarie Gun and Together Pangea, and the support of their hometown, Death Lens is releasing their new album, Cold World, May 3rd on Epitaph Records. 

 For Death Lens, it’s all been building to this. Cold World is a departure from the early styles Death Lens mimicked as a young band, transmuting them into matured and brawny post-hardcore tinged rock songs. 

 On record, Death Lens have an established habit of writing hard-nosed rock that combines West Coast reverbed-out surf punk with tight and bouncy Britrock, deceptively characterizing the band as exclusively chill and vibe-focused when live, a Death Lens show has all the energy of hardcore. Slick guitar sonics and sugary backing vocal harmonies that feel like the best parts of indie punk and shoegaze are the foundation of their style, but in a 200 capacity room, Death Lens brings the same winning concoction as Turnstile and Militarie Gun. In other words, these are the kinds of songs that become the soundtrack to enduring memories of nights of drunken, sweat-drenched singalongs.  

Death Lens started in 2012 as an instrumental project intended to “express ourselves with emotions only and no vocals,” before member Bryan Torres sought more for the group and moved to singing. The self-described “five Brown boys from La Puente,” have gradually moved from straight up showcasing their explosive energy and attitude in their recordings to being a downright refined example of their hard work and early influences gaining traction within their scene.  

 Growing up as minorities 20 miles east of Los Angeles with constant harassment by police and heavy gang violence, Death Lens faced many risk factors that could’ve led them astray from this moment. 

 “We began as your typical party garage punk,” explains Torres, “but have evolved to using our platform to speak [on] living in heavily policed areas, immigrant dominant areas where we push for immigration reforms and using any resources we have to help the community.” 

 Lyrically, Torres is reckoning with his place in the world, examining social injustices, current political and world unrest, and his emotional, mental, and physical reactions to it all. On Cold World, the guitar tones are the best they’ve ever been, the songwriting is stronger than it’s ever been, and the hooks are massive, culminating in Death Lens far and away creating their best work to date. For production on Cold World, the band went to NYC producer Brett Romnes (Hot Mulligan, Mom Jeans) and got straight to work on communicating how to execute their vision. 

“The genius behind the production and recording was Brett Romnes. This was our first time using a producer and we were scared that our sound was not going to be us, but Brett was such an amazing addition to the writing process. We molded our thoughts together, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, we disagreed in parts, a lot of banter, a lot of “Ah ha!” Moments that led to amazing riffs and lyrics and creative ideas. That goal was to find a common ground and build off of that and we did almost instantly on day one, it was beautiful. We like a guy leading us who is rough around the edges, and that was Brett Romnes. He was like the 6th member of Death Lens, he was a part of us for those weeks together.” 

Death Lens’ songs getting even more reverb and the raw dial getting turned back a notch ended up being only a sonic preface to the kinds of space they were gearing up to leave for the substantial hooks they were set to write for Cold World. The harmonized backing vocals are there on songs like “Vacant.” There’s a gorgeous piano intro at the top of “Bruised,” tambourine on “Memory Hotline,” and a moving string arrangement underneath acoustic guitar and Torres’ singing on “Lo Que Sera.” There’s a confidence and adventure to tracks like “Fucked Up,” “Nothing’s Forever,” and “Not Enough,” that show just how secure Death Lens are coming with Cold World. 

 “We use themes for our albums to build a story and “Cold World” just seemed to fit in the days we’re living. Cold World is the desire to thrive in a deteriorating world all while pushing those who feel like there is no hope and hoping to give them a second wind, a sense of hope.” 

 Where their previous work was either rhythmic crashes of energy or glossy croons over strummed melodies, Cold World simply revs up and drives. The guitars of Jhon Reyes and Matt Silva tastefully simmer and sear where they once screamed on the track. Tempos are as consistent as they ever were, but rhythms held together by bassist Eduardo Contreras between the percussion of drummer Tony Rangel and Bryan Torres’ vocals are often synchronized, while Torres’ is much more a rhythmic bark and less the indie croon he used before quarantine. Maybe living as Brown people in one of the most wealth disparate areas of the country did that. It’s certainly the vibe you get watching Death Lens perform to a crowd of Brown kids with every bit as much attitude as a band like IDLES. 

 “We’re all unified in the way we think, we all believe in a fair system for all to live without struggle and with a reasonable cost of living,” Torres says, “We side strongly with socialist ideals proudly. We’re also very pro Latino and pushing heavier to see more Hispanic bands up on stage, pro LGBTQ, pro immigration and everything in between.” 

“One world, one community.”